Since I decided to start my own business, I wanted to do everything by rule. And by myself, to keep the cost low. One can hire consultants to get GST done or Digital signature certificate done and trademark filed. Anyway, I did not really understand the importance of DSC or digital signature certificate until I went to file for a trademark. I got to know I had to get DSC from E-Mudhra.
During the signup process on IPIndia website I could not complete the process because I did not have a DSC. So, I started googling what is DSC and how to get it. There were lot of videos on YouTube that shows you how to file trademark. Many of them makes an assumption that you already have DSC. So, when I started googling “How to get DSC”, all search results pretty much directed to e-mudhra.
As I continued my research I understood, e-mudhra is an online portal who basically verifies the documents ( ID, address proof etc) and then issues DSC, of course for a fee. There are many more such service providers but for some reason ( I believe it because of their marketing, primarily) e-mudhra is the most popular one. And of course it is not free. You pay a fee, for your DSC and a token to store the DSC.
So,How do I get DSC from eMudhra?
It is not that difficult. You can go and search on Youtube, but till date whatever videos are there, are kind of out dated, as lately there is a change in the process. Previously there were Class 2 and Class 3 DSCs, but now there is only one type which is class 3. Otherwise, everything else is pretty much same.
So you sign up with PAN, doing it with Aadhaar is bit cumbersome. You will need one digital picture of yours, and an address proof. Remember, in the last stage of verification, there is a step of video verification, where you will have to show your PAN card and the address proof ( be it Adhaar or your electric bill) on the video. The video gives you 45 seconds, so keep those documents ready before you start video.
In my first attempt of getting DSC from E-Mudhra, I made a mistake. I uploaded PAN card, electric bill as address proof and my picture. But then I did not have physical copy of electric bill, so my video KYC was rejected. Reach out to the customer care and ask them to reject the application. Then you can redo the process with the PAN and address proof for which I had physical copy.
Anyhow, right after starting the process of obtaining DSC from E-Mudhra, the token was shipped and I got the token or secured USB drive to store DSC in 2 days. Caution- do not throw away the box it comes in. The usb drive has a log in pin ( for me and many people it was 12345678) and I made a mistake, I threw away the box without noting down the pin. When I received the DSC and wanted to download the DSC to the thumb drive, it asked for PIN. I had to search on internet for the default pin for ePass2003Auto, thankfully I found the PIN and the default pin was 12345678.
e-Mudhra provides a software ( em signer) to download the DSC to the ePass2003Auto seamlessly. And then you will have to make some changes in security of Internet Explorer ( yes you read it right, not Firefox, chrome or Edge).
How long does it take to get DSC from E-Mudhra?
It should take 2 – 3 hours after you successfully complete video KYC.
How can I get digital signature certificate in DSC from E-Mudhra?
DSC and digital signature certificate are same things. I took a class 3 which is the default class type now for 3 years from e-mudhra. My initial video KYC got rejected because I did not have the physical address proof document. So e-mudhra guys cancelled my initial application and moved me to offline application ( which was online too). After I finished that, I waited a long time for my DSC. Finally around 2 weeks I called e-mudhra call center, and got to know because of the initial cancellation and moving my application to offline, my application got stuck in a queue. So the person escalated my application to the right team and I got my DSC with in 30 – 45 minutes.